I have no intention of bringing Stormont down: Michelle O’Neill

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

The First Minister has said she has “no intention” of bringing down powersharing institutions in Northern Ireland after concerns were raised about the state of relations in the Executive.

Speaking to the media in Derry, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill described the DUP as a party whose “modus operandi” is to “delay and frustrate progress”.

Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy had previously warned that powersharing at Stormont is in a “precarious place”, stating that the largest unionist party, the DUP, “don’t have the political will to make it work”.

The DUP hit back, accusing Sinn Féin of “inserting instability” into the powersharing government arrangements.

The Stormont Executive has yet to agree a budget for the current financial year, with parties around the table calling for further funding from the UK Government.

Fresh Assembly elections are due to take place next year.

The current Assembly was restored in 2020 following a two-year suspension, the latest in a number of occasions when the powersharing institutions have been collapsed.

Asked by reporters in Derry on Wednesday about the DUP’s criticism of Sinn Féin, O’Neill said “those comments probably reflect the DUP’s tactic of distraction and deflect from their own internal issues”.

“Let me say very clearly, I have no intention of bringing Stormont down,” she said.

“I am determined to try to make it work, despite the challenges, despite the fact that we have partners in the DUP, in the Executive sitting around that table, working with the other parties, that are people whose modus operandi, whose approach to everything is to delay and frustrate progress.

“They’re trying to distract from their own internal issues that they have going on right now.

“These people who are anti-progressive rights, they’re people that are anti-Irish, anti-equality, but you see despite that, you have to know who you’re working with, and I understand that.”

She added: “But I am determined to turn up every day for workers and families because I believe that they need us to be there to be the best bulwark against the worst impact of policy decisions that are taken in London.

“So me and my whole team will continue to turn up every day, despite the challenges, despite the fact that the DUP are dancing to (TUV leader) Jim Allister’s tune.”

Asked if she could say with certainty the Assembly would last to the end of its current mandate, she said: “What I can say to you is that I will continue to turn up every day for workers and families and communities, that I can say to you that I have no intention of bringing Stormont down.”